Jewish World Review March 4, 2002 / 20 Adar, 5762

Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reiley
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Promoting the general welfare


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- EVERY American should know that sometimes our own government conspires against us. The state hurts us because it is convenient to do so and may cut down on an annoying situation.

For example, the federal government doesn't want you to smoke because the cost of cancer and heart disease is enormous, and much of it is borne by the feds in the form of Medicare payments. So the government has slapped huge taxes on tobacco products with the hope that nicotine addicts will cut down their habits or quit all together.

Now some believe this is a noble thing. But it is actually punitive -- the state is punishing people who like tobacco.

At times, the state punishes people by seizing land that is needed for public projects and paying the landowner what the local government thinks is fair. The State also assesses your property and taxes it pretty much any way it wants. Yes, you have a right to vote the taxers out of office every few years, but you'll rarely get a refund.

The Founding Fathers were very wary of the power of the state to punish individual Americans and said flat-out in the Preamble to the Constitution that the government was formed to "establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare."

It is the "general welfare" clause that concerns me the most.

Right now, many big cities in America have tremendous traffic problems. Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City -- just to name a few -- are choked with vehicles for most of the day. Instead of coming up with innovative solutions to alleviate the traffic mess -- which, by the way, wastes tons of fuel and heavily pollutes the atmosphere -- our leaders have decided to punish those of us who drive cars.

In lower New York, the Department of Transportation has literally made it impossible for traffic to flow smoothly. The traffic geniuses have blocked portions of 80 percent of the main highways with construction projects at the same time. Instead of fixing one highway and then venturing onto another, the New York City metropolitan area is paralyzed by hundreds of separate construction sites manned by a few workers, as opposed to a few sites manned by a battalion of workers.

The result, of course, is massive delay almost everywhere.

The strategy behind the chaos is simple. The state of New York wants people to take mass transit. The state is losing billions on buses and subways, and wants to punish people who have the audacity to want to drive instead of sitting crammed in a filthy subway car.

Using the World Trade Center attack as a club, New York City has now banned cars having only one passenger from entering the city during the morning rush hour. That may well be unconstitutional, but it is also understandable because the city has lost miles of street space due to the attack.

What is not understandable is the truck situation. All over downstate New York, trucks are allowed to double park -- blocking streets and spewing pollution into the air. If the state of New York were really concerned about "promoting the general welfare," no trucks would be allowed to do this.

But the trucker's union is powerful, and so is the construction union. That is why the general welfare is being overrun by the special interests, and the powers that be in New York are punishing the regular folks who have to drive.

It is very likely there is a situation like this where you live. Think about it. Is your child being punished by having to go to a crumbling public school, while a gleaming new sports stadium paid for by public funds sits majestically just a few miles away? There are plenty of examples like that.

My solution is a general one. Let's make government a bit more "citizen friendly." Let's demand that politicians stop doing stupid and punitive things to us. If you see a disgraceful situation that the "public servants" should address, write to those suckers. And if they don't respond, actively campaign against them.

The only way things are going to change is if those of us who are being punished start our own personal Boston Tea Parties. Let 'em know how you feel.



JWR contributor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor," and author of the new book, "The No-Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America" Comments by clicking here.

Up


02/25/02: Who's responsible?
02/19/02: Lay it on them
02/11/02: Buy dope, fund terror
02/04/02: Back room deals
01/28/02: From boom to bust
01/21/02: The Fairness Doctrine
01/14/02: Hey, Paula, take it to the bank and hush up
01/07/02: And justice for none
12/31/01: All that's left
12/24/01: Santa is appalled
12/17/01: Fight the power
12/10/01: The black challenge
12/03/01: How things have changed
11/26/01: Waiting in the Bushes
11/19/01: The sign of the Cross
11/09/01: Hollyweird strikes back
11/06/01: The fear factor
10/26/01: Show me the money
10/22/01: See no evil
10/15/01: Peace, but no quiet
10/08/01: The air war
10/01/01: I don't understand
09/24/01: We are all soldiers, and we have a job to do
09/14/01: Evil on display
09/11/01: Family matters!
09/04/01: End of summer blues
08/27/01: Summertime -- and the livin' ain't easy
08/20/01: The rap on rap
08/13/01: The truth hurts
08/06/01: Amnesty for illegals: Bush's political investment
07/30/01: The big picture on Condit-Levy
07/24/01: Silence of the Shams
07/16/01: Condit, Kennedy and cable news
07/09/01: Heather needs a childhood: The unnecessary loss of innocence
07/02/01: What would have happened if Steven Spielberg had recut "Schindler's List" for German audiences so they wouldn't be confronted with "emotional issues"?
06/25/01: Freak dancing
06/18/01: Work or die
06/11/01: Soundbite nation
06/04/01: Paying through the nose
05/29/01: Graduation Day 2001
05/21/01: Accepting the unacceptable
05/14/01: The Clinton legacy
05/07/01: Kerrey's ordeal
04/27/01: Is the party over?
04/20/01: Racism in public education
04/16/01: The fleecing of America
04/10/01: People who need perspective
04/03/01: Dubya's bottom line --- and ours
03/27/01: Don't tell, don't ask
03/20/01: Greenspan with envy
03/13/01: Clinton and Jackson
03/07/01: All that's left in America
02/27/01: The Letterman experience
02/20/01: Bread and circuses
02/06/01: How the Clintons do it
01/30/01: The Bush dilemma
01/24/01: I have been investigating Jackson's finances for the past two years
01/17/01: Sifting Ashcroft's record

© 2001 Creators Syndicate